The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star Medals to Maj. Hamilton Dorsey and Maj. Johnathan Zulauf for their meritorious service while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. Dorsey, assigned to the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, deployed for a year to Baghdad, where he was key to arranging a $984 million foreign military sales arrangement that will deliver and sustain six C-130J transport aircraft for the Iraqi Air Force. Zulauf, with the 377th Air Base Wing command post at Kirtland, served as the deputy commander of the 855th Air Expeditionary Squadron at Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan and planned and executed more than 150 mounted combat patrols. (Kirtland photo release for Dorsey; Kirtland photo release for Zulauf)
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
